Reducing Water Losses in Oman – PAEW, Sultanate of Oman

The Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) is responsible for providing drinking water in Oman, a strategic resource to 2.3 million Omanis.

PAEW will face two major challenges in the next two decades:

• A significant growth of its water assets and service coverage – with an objective of supplying piped water to more than 90% of the Omani population.
• ​​​The need for service and performance improvement to meet the growing customers’ expectations.

In order to get prepared, PAEW decided to launch a co-management contract awarded in 2011 to Veolia. In the scope of this contract, 10 Veolia key managers are seconded into PAEW to define a strategy and manage its implementation in each of the key areas of the business: Operations & Maintenance and Water Quality, Customer Service, Projects Execution, Asset Management, IT, Health and Safety, Quality management, and Human Resources Development.

Since the start of the contract, Seureca, the consultancy subsidiary of Veolia, has provided continuous technical support to Veolia and PAEW teams.

Seureca has developed and implemented an innovative strategy for reducing water losses in the Sultanate of Oman, in a context of strong pressure on the natural resource.

To implement this integrated strategy, Veolia and Seureca have applied a full resectorization of the country's water networks, with permanent remote monitoring of technical and commercial water loss, including: 

• The creation of small water distribution units, comprising between 500 and 2,500 customers, called District Metered Areas (DMA) whose flows and pressure are constantly monitored:
  - Drop testing and updating of the geographical information system (SIG);
  - Checking and replacement of boundary valves;
  - Hydraulic modelling for validation.​​
• Study of pressure regulators for distribution, using hydraulic modeling tools if required;​
• Implementation of a data collection system linked to the existing control and data control and acquisition system (SCADA);​
• Estimate of technical and commercial water losses in the District Metered Areas (minimum night flow method and volumetric approach);
• Action Plan with prioritization and target settings;
• Implementation of tailored training programs, with on-site practice sessions in small groups of 3 to 5 employees;
• Tendering and acquisition of appropriate equipment and technologies (acoustic, gas, vans…);
• ​​​​​​​​Creation and supervision of leak detection teams.